The Fifth Trumpet—The Locusts From Hell

9 Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen out of heaven to the earth, and the key to the pit of the abyss was given to him. ² He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke came up out of the pit like the smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. ³ And out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given the kind of power that scorpions of the earth have. ⁴ They were told not to harm the earth’s grass, any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.

⁵ Indeed, they were not given permission to kill these people but only to torture them for five months. And the pain they cause is like the pain caused by a scorpion when it stings a person. ⁶ In those days people will seek death but will certainly not find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them.

⁷ The locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads were what appeared to be crowns that were like gold. Their faces looked like human faces. ⁸ They had hair that looked like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ⁹ They had breastplates that appeared to be made of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots and horses charging into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails with stingers like those of scorpions, and in their tails they had power to hurt people for five months.

¹¹ They have the angel of the abyss over them as their king. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.^[a]

¹² One woe is past. Look! After these things two more woes are coming.

The Sixth Trumpet

¹³ Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice speak from the four^[b] horns of the gold incense altar that is before God. ¹⁴ It said to the sixth angel, the one with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ And the four angels who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were let loose so that they could kill a third of the people.

¹⁶ The number of soldiers on horseback was two hundred million. I heard their number. ¹⁷ And this is what I saw in the vision of the horses and their riders: They had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire and smoke and sulfur. ¹⁸ As a result of these three plagues, the fire and the smoke and the sulfur that came out of their mouths, a third of mankind was killed. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like snakes that have heads, which they use to cause injuries.

²⁰ The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands by giving up their worship of demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, or wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immoralities, or their thefts.